Day: November 11, 2013

My Pet Crow

- Roshan

Most people have cats or dogs as pets. Some people have love birds, fish, ferrets, rabbits, parrots, parakeets, horses, turtles, ponies or hamsters.

Me – I have a crow! This guy comes to my balcony mostly during breakfast time and mostly when we have dosa for breakfast and “caws” my ears off until I give him a piece of the crispiest part to eat. He takes it and then goes off to eat it in peace. This photo was taken today just before I sat down to eat my breakfast. Saw him on the balcony so before he could cry out I went and gave him a section of the crispiest part of the hottest dosa. He took it, I snapped the pic and 30 seconds later he flew off with it in his beak.

A funny incident happened a few days ago. We had dosa for breakfast and I went back to my room. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks but there he was just outside my window, perched on the pipes that run on the parapet below the window. He kept cawing loudly and it sounded like he was complaining and rebuking me for not saving a piece of dosa for him. As one of the window grill has been removed for repair work he almost came into my room until I went and shooed him away. Then he came to the balcony and started cawing over there loudly, complaining as he was hungry for dosa!

Arsenal 0 Manchester United 1

- Roshan

Arsenal seemed too nervous and lacked the killer instinct in their biggest match of the season so far as they lost 0-1 at Manchester United. At stake for the game was a a chance to maintain a 5 point gap at the top of the table, bragging rights and a psychological advantage and to cement their chances of being credited as solid front runners for the league title. They faltered at the stage and despite improving their game in the second half and going close a few times they were defeated. What was worse is that former Arsenal top scorer Robin Van Persie was the one who scored the goal for United and then celebrated in exuberant style.

All is not lost and the engaging game, narrow margin or a solitary goal shows signs that Arsenal can reverse the scoreline and more when their hated rivals visit the Emirates stadium later in the season. But they did have a chance to shut out any naysayers who felt that the Gunners were not yet title contenders. On the other side United boss David Moyes knew defeat would have left them 11 points adrift in the title race, a gap which might have proved beyond even the reigning champions. Wenger revealed sickness in his camp had deprived him of defender Per Mertesacker and midfielder Tomas Rosicky, while Mikel Arteta was fit to start despite also feeling unwell. This may have contributed towards a decidedly flat first 45 minutes. And despite a much-improved second half, which included two perfect crosses from full-back Bacary Sagna that somehow went untouched, it was United’s fans who were celebrating a win of great significance at the final whistle.

It was a disappointing end to a week in which Arsenal made major statements of intent against Liverpool in the Premier League and away to Dortmund in the Champions League. Now we go into the international break with a 2 point lead over Liverpool at the top of the table and United climb upto 5th place 5 points away.